The GCC’s estimated 200,000 British expatriates can look forward to a less stressful journey through UK airports on the way back from their annual pilgrimage home this summer.
Britain’s two biggest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, are being forced to halve the length of queues at security gates or face fines from regulators.
British Airports Authority (BAA), which owns London’s two main airports will have to pay penalties if it fails to process 95% of passengers through security checks in five minutes or less.
The news follows last summer’s fiasco when passengers routinely queued for over two hours after additional security restrictions were introduced following the discovery of an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.
Lines of passengers snaked through airports and only people whose flights were about to board were pulled from the back of the line and ushered to the front.
BAA has pledged to provide an additional 1000 staff and buy 30 more scanning systems in time for the start of the summer rush in June.
The news might not all be good for passengers. Donal Dowds, BAA’s director of operations, warned that the cost of additional security, and any additional fines, are likely to be passed on to the airlines, and ultimately their customers.
“The airlines have to be part of the agreement because they have to decide whether they are prepared to accept the cost implications,” he said.
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